A worker checks the lighting on the Building Atomic Vegas exhibit Monday Januart 24, 2011. The Atomic Testing Museum will display a yearlong exhibit commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Nevada Test Site opening Jan. 28, 2011 through Jan. 5, 2012. ( JOHN GURZINSKI/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL)

The Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum tells the story of the construction of the dam, as well as the birth of Boulder City, with artifacts, audio recordings and interactive exhibits. Hunter Terry/Boulder City Review

A look at the exhibit space at the Burlesque Hall of Fame, which celebrates its reopening on April 17, 2018. (Burlesque Hall of Fame)

A neon Las Vegas sign is reflected in a Seven Eleven machine on display that was one of the first craps slot machines built for casino gaming at the Clark County Museum in Henderson on Wednesday, April 4, 2018. The museum is featuring an exhibition called "50 Years of Preserving History: Celebrating the Golden Anniversary of the Clark County Museum" to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto

Clark County museums administrator Mark Hall-Patton talks about the history of the Clark County Museum in Henderson on Wednesday, April 4, 2018. The museum is featuring an exhibition called "50 Years of Preserving History: Celebrating the Golden Anniversary of the Clark County Museum" to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto

Zak Bagans, paranormal investigator and host of Travel Channel's "Ghost Adventures," poses for a photo in a room with items from his upcoming documentary "Demon House" at the Haunted Museum in downtown Las Vegas on Tuesday, March 13, 2018. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto

Duane Stoner III splashes around in Water World at the DISCOVERY Children's Museum on Tuesday, May 1, 2018, in Las Vegas. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto

Animal husbandry worker Jordan Lorge holds a rose hair tarantula named Charlotte at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016, in Las Vegas. Lorge has worked at the museum for the past three years, caring for marine life and educating the public. Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal

Animal husbandry worker Jordan Lorge holds a bearded dragon at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016, in Las Vegas. Lorge has worked at the museum for the past three years, caring for marine life and educating the public. Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal

Prohibition-era advertisements on display at The Underground at The Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas on Saturday, April 14, 2018. The basement-level exhibition of the Prohibition era features a working distillery and speakeasy where attendees can stay for a drink. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto

Lillian Warby splashes around in Water World at the DISCOVERY Children's Museum on Tuesday, May 1, 2018, in Las Vegas. Benjamin Hager Las Vegas Review-Journal @benjaminhphoto

It’s easy to take museums for granted. Or, worse, to think of them just as warehouses for stuff from the past.

But the best museums do more than display objects. They use exhibits, artifacts and interactive displays to tell a story, whether that story is about mobsters, prehistoric monsters or, even, spooky spirits.

In honor of National Museum Month, here’s a tour of some of Southern Nevada’s most intriguing museums.

■ Don’t miss: “Estardas,” a 2010 piece by Justin Favela. “Estardas” is “ ‘stardust,’ but with a Spanish accent,” says Alisha Kerlin, the Barrick’s interim executive director. Las Vegas artist Favela used cardboard, glue and paint to transform the iconic sign of the late Stardust casino into a colorful nod to his Mexican and Guatemalan heritage. “I think the piece is about Las Vegas and the plurality of voices that make up Las Vegas,” Kerlin says. “So it’s iconic and expansive at the same time. It’s unexpected and it’s funny.”

■ Features: Historical artifacts and stories about the construction of Hoover Dam and the workers who built it.

■ Don’t miss: The 20-minute film that includes archival footage of the dam’s construction. “We don’t really deal with the technical aspects of the dam,” says Shirl Naegle, collections manager. “We really talk about the people who came here from all parts of the country to build the dam and what they faced in doing that — living conditions, working conditions, how they melded together into a community.”

■ Features: Expanded gift store and a timeline of burlesque history in America, along with an interactive display and a studio for physical learning.

■ Don’t miss: The glass-beaded G-strings. “This museum shows a lot of different facets of the dance and entertainment industry,” says Ray Hanley, a museum manager. “That’s what I love about it. There’s a lot more to the museum than what meets the eye.”

■ Features: Walking trails, exhibits and displays that explore the history and development of Southern Nevada and how Southern Nevadans lived.

■ Don’t miss: Heritage Street, a collection of historic homes and buildings — including a print shop and a wedding chapel — that were moved to the site and painstakingly restored to match their historical eras.

■ Don’t miss: The Water World Gallery. “It is truly a sensory experience,” says Laura Christian, assistant director of learning experiences, where children not only can delight in the sensory spell of water but also learn about the unique scientific properties of water and study hydroelectricity through an interactive model of Hoover Dam.

■ Don’t miss: The exhibit examining the evolution of human sexuality. “It’s really comprehensive,” Hartmann says, and looks at the topic from not just a behavioral perspective but an anthropological perspective, too.

■ Features: A selection of celebrity vehicles that includes the Batmobile and Liberace’s blinged-out rides.

■ Don’t miss: The Lotus Esprit that appeared in the 1977 James Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me.” Bond’s beyond-street-legal model was amphibious and included cannons, a periscope and torpedoes.

Aviation Museum

■ Info: Main exhibits at McCarran International Airport, on the mezzanine level overlooking baggage claim in Terminal 1; other exhibits are located throughout McCarran, with additional exhibits at the North Las Vegas Airport and Henderson Executive Airport; 702-455-7968; 24 hours a day; admission: free.

■ Features: Exhibits about the history and development of aviation in Southern Nevada and how and why aviation is so important here.

■ Don’t miss: The 1958 Cessna 172 hanging above the north end of the baggage claim area in Terminal 1. In 1958-59, the plane, piloted by Robert Timm and John Cook, flew for 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes and 5 seconds without touching the ground, setting a World Endurance Aloft flying record that still stands.

Natural History Museum

■ Info: 900 North Las Vegas Blvd.; 702-384-3466; 9 a.m.-4 p.m. daily; admission: $12 for adults; $10 for seniors, military and students; $6 for children ages 3 to 11, free for children 2 and younger.

■ Features: Exhibits about Southern Nevada’s natural history, including a geology gallery, Treasures of Egypt exhibit, galleries and models about prehistoric life (dinosaurs!); a marine life gallery with live sharks and stingrays; live animals that include scorpions, snakes and lizards, and interactive science exhibits.

■ Don’t miss: The paleontology lab, where guests can watch as real scientists work with real fossils of real creatures that really lived here long ago. Researchers aren’t working in the lab every day, says Marilyn Gillespie, the museum’s executive director. “But when it is open, people can watch science happen.”

The more than 3,000-room Bellagio hotel is situated on the site of the former Dunes Hotel. The Dunes was imploded in 1993, and construction of the Bellagio started in 1996. It cost $1.6 billion to build, making it the most expensive hotel in the world at the time. The Bellagio was former Wynn Resorts Ltd. Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn’s second major casino on the Strip after The Mirage. MGM Resorts International acquired the property from Steve Wynn in 2000. (Tara Mack/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Country superstar Jason Aldean discusses his feelings about playing in Las Vegas and says he'd be interested in a Las Vegas residency when the time is right at the iHeart Radio Music Festival in Las Vegas on September 21, 2018.(John Katsilometes/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Behind the scenes with local celebrity photographer Jerry Metellus as he talks about his Dance For Vegas coffee book dedicated to the 58 victims of the October 1 shooting. (Marcus Villagran/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @marcusvillagran

The Meadows School founding kindergarten teacher retires after 34 years at the school

Linda Verbon, founder of the The Meadows School's kindergarten program and the first faculty member hired at the school, retired in the spring after 34 years at The Meadows. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal)